On 2009-06-10 13:53, Terry Reedy wrote:
Mensanator wrote:
So, the 2.6.2 documentation is STILL wrong. Before it implied
it was ALWAYS a semi-open interval, and now it says it's ALWAYS
a closed interval. But neither is correct.
If a < x < b is true, then a <= x <= b is true.
But docs say that in general end point values might happen. They do not
say that in every particular case, they will happen.
I'm not so sure. Context is important. When discussing the bounds of random
number generators, specifying <= instead of < strongly suggests that the bound
is one of the possible results. I've had to read a lot of random number
generator documentation in my time.
To take the point to absurdity, it would be wrong for the function to return
just values within (a+0.25*b, a+0.75*b) even though the docs "just" say that the
result will be between a and b.
A full technical discussion does not below in the docs, in my opinion. A
wike article would be fine.
True. However, a brief note that "Due to floating point arithmetic, for some
values of a and b, b may or may not be one of the possible generated results."
might be worthwhile. The actual details of *why* this is the case can be
discussed elsewhere.
--
Robert Kern
"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco
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